Bush’s Sense Of History: What You Don’t Know Can’t Hurt Me

Go Ahead & Try     bush-ask-the-white-house-banner.jpg

The Washington Post provides a delightful example of one of the myriad ways the Bush Administration will exit as it governed, with comically opaque statements, inept execution of its legal responsibilities, and the providential retirement for health reasons of an official who facilitated its crimes by his own idleness.

The jerry-rigged pile which is the Bush White House email system is supposed to disgorge its treasures onto the National Archives when the president leaves office in a month.

But there’s never a lack of drama with these guys.

The endless litigation trying to force Bush not to destroy presidential records through sloth, indifference and malice has taught us that some five million emails may be missing from the White House system, as well as tens of thousands written on Republican National Committee email accounts in order to evade records keeping law.

National Archives’ General Counsel Garry Stern is praying for a Christmas Miracle:

“we hope and expect they all will exist on the system or be recoverable…We can’t say for sure.”

But Santa may not exist, or have treats for all the good boys and girls:

  White House spokesman Scott M. Stanzel said last week that “we are making significant progress in accounting for the e-mail records stored on our computer network.” But he declined to say how many e-mails remain missing or to predict how long the recovery will take because the issue is the subject of ongoing litigation. “

“Stanzel said the White House is also still “working to acquire” e-mails involving official government business that were transmitted by presidential aides through accounts operated by the Republican National Committee, a problem also first publicized almost three years ago. “We continue to be in communication with RNC officials about recovering official records,” he said without offering details. Such records are subject to the Presidential Records Act, which requires their transfer to the Archives at noon on Jan. 20. “

Outgoing Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein has long urged faith-based archiving.  Visiting the future

bush-weinstein-smu-speaking.jpg       George W. Bush Library home at SMU he painted the vision of a happy future , where the cares and controversies of the present fall away, and a disturbing category he invented called “Presidential Families” decide it’ll be good for grandpa’s image to let loose the papers.

The ongoing scandal that ex Presidents, and thanks to Bush, their heirs for untold generations, have any say in shaping the public record and image of past administrations went unmentioned.

But it’s not Weinstein’s problem anymore.

He’s resigning before the end of term smashup for health reasons, offering a glowing self-assessment has he scurries away from the looming train-wreck.

we at the National Archives have worked diligently and successfully on our primary mission of maximizing public access to the records of all three branches of government while protecting at all costs this agency’s rock-solid nonpartisan integrity

The Post’s story ends on a reassuring note.  There’s no word on Saddam’s pistol, but…

“The bullhorn used by Bush at the World Trade Center site in New York is among the objects set to go to Texas.

Comments (1) left to “Bush’s Sense Of History: What You Don’t Know Can’t Hurt Me”

  1. Bush White House Ordered To Stay After Class at WWW.PRESIDENTS”R”US.COM wrote:

    […] Bush emails from the Valerie Plame/Schock & Awe era.   In the face of ongoing sloth and indifference the magistrate judge ordered the White House to preserve to find and preserve data from computer […]